Board of the News: Year 12 results

http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/hsc-results-2015-nsw-students-get-their-atars-20151216-glpi5b.html

There have been a large number of articles on this subject over the last few days, so I'll stick to this one.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with how it works, the high school certificate in each state (the names vary, so I'll be referring to it as this for the rest of the post rather than HSC/WACE/SACE/VCE etc.) has a syllabus set by the state's Board of Studies. Some states will have the Board linked with the rest of the education department, others will make it a separate department. At the end of the year, they are the ones who actually issue the high school certificate, while the schools just generally deliver it on behalf of the Board. (This is usually why your child may receive two certificates during graduation-one is from the state). I say high school certificate here because both the Year 11 and 12 units are set by the state.

What this particular article is also referring to are ATAR scores. These are scores that come from a student's Year 12 results (and only their Year 12 results) and are used to determine if a student is eligible for university entry, subject to other requirements. Students can complete Year 12 without receiving an ATAR score if they opted to complete certain subjects (usually Community Studies and some VET courses) or if they completed an alternative option to finish high school. Students who undertake the IB Diploma will receive their own score which is converted into an ATAR score, while students who study at Waldorf schools generally have some kind of agreement with universities on their eligibility (many Waldorf schools provide an alternate Year 12 certificate) instead.

Some states do also have a TAFE score that is used to determine eligibility. Usually the criteria is the same as an ATAR.

And despite all the ranking and posturing crap that goes on whenever this happens, the ATAR really means nothing long-term. There are way too many factors that can skew a person's ATAR including major life events, events at school, the student's health, the teacher, the school itself and even the exam/moderator can modify the final result. The ATAR is not an accurate measure of how someone will do at uni, TAFE or in their career. I have seen students with ATAR scores in the 90's drop out within 1 year of starting their degree, while students with ATAR scores in the 60's have come out on top. The ATAR is not an indication of their study skills either-I have seen those same high-scoring students spend their time goofing off and screwing up, while the lower-scoring students will take it seriously.

I know I'll cop flak for this and I'll wind up getting told "Oh, you must be in your dream job". Eh, no. My dream job? It was to be a teacher. And even then, I had to work hard to get close to that dream. My ATAR? In the 50's. Yeah, I know, embarassing. I took part in a trial program my eventual uni was offering for students who needed a boost to their ranking which involved sitting a test. The test was actually a series of questions that wouldn't look out of place in a Professor Layton game. That was enough to get me into my Bachelor of Arts, where I resolved to focus on my backup career (working for Immigration, Foreign Affairs or ASIO*). Halfway through my BA, I found out that my uni had started a Masters degree for pre-registration teachers and applied for it while finishing my studies off. That worked in my favour and I wound up receiving an offer for the Masters program. In that program, I passed all of my classes except for the practical ones (where you're in actual classrooms with actual students), where we found that there were further problems that were not the result of a low ATAR. I eventually exited with a Bachelor of Special Ed and found solace as a childcare worker. Unfortunately those same problems that cropped up while studying resurfaced and I pretty much had to leave for my own safety. I now work in administration for a private university that specialises in music and dance courses and also assist with administration for the RTO branch. It's not necessarily what my dream job was, but the skills I picked up in both my degrees have served me well here. I've made several suggestions to improve the running and management of the university and RTO and they have mostly been taken on board, resulting in increased enrolments, a smoother service to the students and ensuring that they get the help they need. My long-term goal is now looking into a managerial role or becoming a consultant for RTO/VET management.

Meanwhile, I've encountered many students with ATAR scores in the 80's or 90's (including a relative) who have gone onto uni thinking it to be "the right thing to do," only to then drop out within the year. In the case of the relative, she went on to complete a  traineeship in Business Admin and now works as a receptionist for a car dealership. It's not a bad career choice, but it's also not what you'd expect someone with an ATAR in their 80's/90's to do. Another person I know got a decent ATAR and is now in the Army, while another individual got a decent ATAR score, went to a private school and is now in the Navy. I should add that neither of them went on to study at uni. Another relative of mine also received a decent ATAR in high school and did not go on to university. She's now running a daycare centre out of her house (which requires you to at least have a Diploma in childcare or be studying towards same).

So you may still opt to go to uni, but that degree may not actually be used in your eventual career. I'm lucky in that my degrees (both of them) do get used to some extent in my current job, while others may complete a Science or engineering degree and find themselves working somewhere else. My cousin got into a Bachelor of Nanotechnology (Honours) degree (that currently requires a ATAR of around 70) and completed it but found that all the jobs in her field were interstate. Not wanting to relocate, she opted to complete an apprenticeship as a baker and has won several awards (state and local) for her work. She is now married and living comfortably nearby. I have also heard (and know) of several individuals completing degrees in various other fields (such as Software Engineering or Communications) but are now actually working elsewhere. I also know of a large number of teaching students who eventually opted to work in childcare (in SA at least, this is legal, interstate, it's another matter), a field which is typically populated by individuals who have completed a Cert III.

I hope these examples (albeit anecdotal, which is a far cry from my usual style) will at least give Year 12's and their families a bit of hope that it's not the ATAR which makes the individual, but rather what they do afterwards.